Items tagged with radio

Pandora has just won the current round in the ongoing struggle over royalty fees with ASCAP (one of the agencies that collects and distributes royalty payments for musicians), and ASCAP is deeply unhappy with the ruling. Judge Denise Cote presided over the case and ruled that Pandora did not have to pay ASCAP any more than the 1.85% royalty rate for songs it plays for the period ranging from 2011-2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, ASCAP was seeking a sizable increase in royalty rates, up to 2.5% for 2013 and 3% for 2014. It was a loss for ASCAP, to be sure, but Pandora was actually seeking...Read more...

It may seem that the world needs another streaming radio service like it needs a hole in the head, but Nokia is driving ahead with a new one called Nokia MixRadio to mix it up (as it were) with the likes of Spotify and Pandora. MixRadio will replace the former Nokia Music service, and it does have some features that competitors don’t, including the fact that you don’t have sign up for anything and the absence of ads. MixRadio uses your own listening habits--thumbs up, thumbs down--to create a personal listening experience, and the initial offerings will be “weighted” with...Read more...

Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple has the ability to move markets, influence rivals, and change the status quo. Just take a look at Pandora. The streaming radio giant made a move earlier in the year that put a 40-hour cap on mobile listening. Naturally, it was imlpemented in order to encourage more folks to pay for premium services, and likely as a way to get a better handle on revenue. But now, on today's earnings call, Pandora's CFO reversed course. Here's what Mike Herring had to say: "When we introduced the 40 hour mobile listening limit, we were confident that our scale – over 7% of total...Read more...

Details are emerging about Apple’s licensing deals with record labels for its iTunes Radio service, which was recently announced at the company’s WWDC event. According to Billboard, Apple will pay indie labels 0.13 cents in royalties per song plus 15% of net advertising revenue in the service’s first year of operation; that’s a bit different than the deal it struck with the majors, which appears to be 0.1325 cents per song. In the second year, indie labels will get 0.14 cents and 19% of ad revenues. The Wall Street Journal notes that Pandora pays out 0.12 cents and about...Read more...

Satellite radio is about to become an even more integrated experience in new Ford vehicles. The automaker has announced plans to become the first in the industry to launch MySMX and SiriusXM On Demand alongside satellite radio in vehicles. For the first time ever, subscribers will be able to control SiriusXM Internet Radio programming and listen to SiriusXM's personalized commercial-free music channels using their vehicle's in-dash radio. It's essentially an extension of what has been possible before for subscribers, tying in some nice interplay with smartphones. Ford drivers will be the first...Read more...

It's the rumor that just won't end: Apple is probably / maybe going to get into the music / radio streaming business. iTunes has set itself atop the world in terms of being a mainstream hub for music purchases, but these days, consumers want more flexibility. That's why services such as MOG, Spotify, and Google Music All Access are there: because a lot of people want to pay $10/month to stream just about everything, and then move on once their tastes change. To date, Apple doesn't offer anything like that, but it has evidently been in talks to create such a service for years. Terms with the record...Read more...

In the ever-changing world of streaming music, Slacker has made a name for itself. And that name is getting bigger. Since re-launching in February, the music service has revealed its latest audience growth figures, adding over six million new users in that span. Here are a few tidbits from the company. Since mid-February, new users are coming, they're listening longer, and they're subscribing: · More than six million new listeners joined, with 3.5 million on mobile · People have increased average listening time by 25 percent · Slacker is now installed on more than three times...Read more...

The music business is a drastically different one now than it was even a decade ago. Slowly but surely, many entities tied to the record and music industry are shifting to take the new realities into account, and this week, Billboard announced that it would do likewise. The new Billboard.com finally gets with the Internet age, acknowledging music streaming as a major component to what's hot and trending. The company has added playable charts into the mix, with one-click access to hit playlists using Spotify, MySpace or Rdio players. There's also the opportunities to watch recent videos via VEVO,...Read more...

Watch out Pandora: You may soon have some serious competition. Reports claim Apple is planning to launch its own Internet radio service early next year. Supposedly, Apple is already in talks with major music labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony’s music division to start an ad-supported streaming radio service. According to people who have knowledge of the negotiations, discussions between Apple and music labels have included ways to share ad revenue. It's possible a deal could be reached by mid-November. If this becomes reality, the service could launch within...Read more...

"On Demand" used to be a prized possession, but these days, the technologically literate just expect it to be everywhere. If it's not on-demand, it's not with the times, right? SiriusXM isn't waiting around to find out, as the satellite radio provider has just launched SiriusXM On Demand, enabling subscribers of its Internet Radio services the ability to listen via its app-based player. That means on-demand satellite radio is coming to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. You'll be able to choose from over 200 shows and over 2,000 hours of content, whenever you want. Not too shabby. Specifically, it'll...Read more...

Head units don't usually get a heck of a lot of love, but Sony's newest is quite the technophile. The XAV-601BT is a powerful, large unit that's engineered to be used with your smartphone at the helm. There are two USB ports for simultaneous connection of phone and MP3 player/flash memory, and it supports firmware updates for compatibility with growing range of apps and smartphones. It also packs an enormous 6.1" touch panel, 3D-style graphics, and something that no other head unit has to date: MirrorLink compatibility. If you've got a MirrorLink-capable phone, you can access its media collection...Read more...

Once a champion of WiMAX technology, Sprint is quickly doing its best to forget it ever happened. Despite launching a number of successful smartphones with WiMAX radios, it didn't take long for LTE to become the clear winner in the 4G race. Sure enough, Sprint's 4G partner (Clearwire) has announced that LTE and LTE-Advanced is the technology it'll be embracing in the future, leaving the future of WiMAX very bleak in the States. In fact, Sprint won't even be selling WiMAX devices in the near future. Speaking at the Competitive Carriers Global Expo in Florida, Bob Azzi, senior vice president of networks...Read more...

You've probably heard of iTunes, Rdio, Spotify and maybe even Rhapsody. But have you heard of MOG? You will soon enough. MOG was recently purchased by Beats Audio, and given Beats' link to HTC, we wouldn't be surprised to see MOG become a staple of HTC's Sense overlay. But estimations aside, one of the major reasons that MOG has seen minimal uptake, despite being quite the powerful music streaming / subscription service, is the lack of a Windows app. Up until this week, MOG was only accessible via iPhone, Android, Mac or the web. Now, the MOG app for Windows is getting real. Available now, the...Read more...

A joint study between Microsoft Research and Purdue University has taken a look at how smartphone applications handle power consumption and come to some damning conclusions where energy efficiency is concerned. This is an issue that's become more important as smartphone specs have skyrocketed without a similar increase in battery life. The paper only considers devices running Android and Windows Mobile, but this isn't a problem that's unique to that platform; Apple's iPhone 4S suffered from battery life issues for months after release, while the new iPad is ~10% heavier than the old thanks to the...Read more...